Dark World
by MoanaDista
Summary: When Jane and Loki are separated from Thor, can the two of them find common ground to face the challenges ahead? Or will there be too much secrets and adversity between them to find their way back home? AU. Black hole weapons are creepy.
1. Chapter 1

Dark World

Prologue: Heat of the Moment

A spherical shaped object was flung high into the sky. Loki squints at it, unsure of what the projectile could be. The mechanical ball arches and at its pinnacle, a red light begins to flash. The trickster realizes a moment too late.

A bomb.

Ice green eyes glance at Thor's mortal, oblivious to the danger, struggling to regain balance. Gritting his teeth, he instinctively reacts and shoves her away from the incoming threat. At the sound of detonation, the younger prince turns and jumps, intending on sheltering the woman from the blast. To his surprise, the explosion became the epicenter of heavy gravity. The forward momentum of his body slows. He stretches out for purchase, for anything to stop the inevitable, and for an instant, he's briefly frozen in place.

Precariously weightless, time stands still.

He should have picked her up and made a run for it.

Honey brown eyes stare at him from over her shoulder - she's terrified. Discombobulated as she was, the woman knows not what would happen, yet she reaches for him anyway. Loki shouts at her to stop her intent.

A small hand snags his wrist, then another.

"Let go of me," he yells raggedly.

"No!"

She leans heavily away from the vacuum, attempting to apply counterforce against the weapons deadly suction. To his dismay, he's tugged forward, but he knew she's weakened by the siphoning of the Aether; though she tries, she fails to pull him any farther.

Time speeds up.

The inevitable happens in a blink of an eye.

She's being dragged across the jagged ground, then they're both lifted high and flung into the circular conduit. She losses her grip and slips away. The long fabric on her shoulder slaps his face and snags his vambrace: entwining.

A red flash marred their vision. Thor is inches above their outstretched arms. The look of a desperate man arriving a moment too late to save anyone, and he crashes into the mountainous terrain.

_Brother_-

The swirling vortex envelops them.

All coherent thought except one flees away as Loki gathers the blue fabric, tugs the mortal up against him, and curls around her. What echoes endlessly in his mind is the thought that his mother sacrificed her life to save this unworthy creature.

_Never would her death be in vain._

An agony worse than death rips at them.

The maiden cries out somewhere against his breastplate and he can't help but do the same.

She smells of gardenias in the heady warmth of summer night.

Mingling together in the turbulent immersion, the world darkens into a black void. Atoms in their bodies shatter, crumple, fold inward, disintegrating.

* * *

...Particles of protons, neutrons, and electrons, funnel through a loop and filters through another.

* * *

Earth shattering roar of howling wind.

A vortex splits open, spewing forth heavy mist of swirling matter.

Reformation occurs, as shooting pain pulses in every crevice of scattered bodies. The sizzling sound of floating atoms being compressed, reconnected, and forming anew: bone, muscles, nerves, naked skin, heavy leathers, Asgardian metal, blue and green cloth.

Two bodies are tossed aside like rag dolls upon the ground. They lie together, side by side, oblivious to the world around them.

All is silent.

Steam rises off their heated flesh.

* * *

A.N: Had to change the format for this story. No character povs per chapter, it'll be too short if I did it that way.


	2. Chapter 2

01: A Secret

Shaken by the thought that she was dead, Jane opens her eyes and takes a deep inhalation of breath. It felt like her entire body simultaneously shutdown, expanded, got electrocuted, and then an explosion inside her head scrambled up her brain and melted it to sludge. A numb tingling sensation ripples down to her toes, and then back up - even her ears felt numb. The significance of sensation bolstered the probability that somehow, miraculously, she survived the explosion.

"I'm alive?" Jane chokes out in shock, her vocal cords felt strained, near burning.

Fingers dart out blindly, feeling the uneven ground: dirt, rocks, shriveled twigs, and long blades of grass.

"I'm alive…." The elation in her voice held a tinge of apprehension about all the things to come.

Carefully, Jane shifts her weight and stands on wobbly legs - it felt uncomfortable to move. Hobbling slightly, she turns her gaze upward; no wind, no light, no moon, not even a star to help steady her focus. Only the pitch black nothingness remains constant.

A memory of grasping hands and accusing eyes swarms her senses, replaced by - flashes of glowing objects in a row, red Aether swirling, Thor kneeling as he cradled a prone figure in his arms – a deep numbness sets in again. It gives her a pounding headache.

Taking a step forward, there's a tug of resistance that yanks her backward. Trailing her fingers against the pressure, Jane realizes it was the blue sash over her right shoulder. One of them was caught on something. Following the taunt fabric down, shuffling closer to the object anchoring her in place, her foot hooks under a lump and she trips, landing hard on another lump. The thing beneath her releases a lungful of breath. Hands flutter against her waist, lifts her gently, and she's shoved aside as the thing hulls itself upright.

A ball of bluish light emerges from the palm of a hand and floats high above Jane's head. The illumination reveals a forested canopy of drooping branches dead of leaves.

Loki's pale agonized face contorts with a mixture of rage and confusion as he stares down at her. Suddenly, all traces of emotion vanishes away; making him appear empty, ghostlike, and sickly. Turning his attention to their surroundings, he straightens and breaks the silence between them.

"We're alive."

Staring dumbfounded at the light, Jane quietly agrees, "We're alive." There's a hint of guilt in her words.

No sooner had the admission been made, Loki whirls around and yells at her, "You imbecile! What were you thinking?"

Shocked and frightened, the only thing that makes it pass her lips was a strangled, "What?"

The intensity in his eyes are accusing and malevolent, "I told you not to – I should kill you! Do you think your fabricated martyrdom would help anyone? Help Thor?"

Voice wavering, Jane tries to defend her actions, "But you were-"

"No one cares what you think!" He hollers, "You ruined everything with your misguided actions!"

Insulted by his words, Jane says shrilly, "It wasn't misguided! I wanted to help!"

A low grating sound is heard in the darkness. Snapping, scrapping, sliding ever closer.

The feuding pair falls silent.

Movement is heard near a dead bush.

Jane searches the shadows for the source of the disturbance. Something brushes forcefully against the underside of her heels. Yelping, she scuttles backward on hands and feet, bumping into Loki's leg.

"Took you long enough," Loki mocks. "Did it have to touch you before you noticed?"

A reptilian body slithers beyond the barrier of light: scales drenched red, strips of black, and dappled green. The stench of rotten meat emanates from the creature. Its head slowly rises higher and higher until it hovers ten feet off the floor. A long serpentine tongue flicks out to test the air. Appendages along the sides of its body grasps at empty space.

An arm snags around Jane's collarbone and she's wrenched aside as razor sharp teeth lash out like lighting to snap at the space they once occupied. A hiss erupts from the beast as its body contorts and twines itself into an endlessly aggressive wave. Fangs thick as arms juts out from its wide mouth - It could have impaled them in one bite.

Loki whispers calmly against her ear.

"Run along now."

And she bolts into the forest as the sound of collision takes place directly behind her.

The ball of light guides her path as adrenaline pumps through her body and overrides the throbbing pain. Deeper into the woods she goes until a new dread floods her senses, and Jane's gasping at the thought.

_What would happen if he were gone?_

_The light would vanish and…._

Skidding across the ground, Jane overbalances, catches herself with her left hand, and looks around for anything that could be considered a weapon. Spotting a large fallen branch beside the trunk of a white tree, she figures it was better than nothing. Ripping it from the bramble, noisily dragging the heavy limb through the underbrush and closer towards the ruckus.

Darkness lifts away as she dashes into the heart of battle. Dust clouds billow about, masking the area and clogging her nose and mouth with dirt. Breathing through the sleeve of her jacket, Jane searches the area for the black haired prince, but all she sees is the terrifying sight of the giant creature digging itself into a mini crater. There's a long slit along its side, revealing torn ligaments of scale and muscle. It's bleeding profusely.

Not knowing if Loki was consumed, Jane stares at the light - an indication that he couldn't be dead.

"Loki…" she calls out.

At the sound of her voice, the reptilian beast hisses, snaps it head out of the crater, and focuses its attention on the illuminating sphere. It shakes its head left and right; blinking. The nictitating membrane of its right eye swipes rhythmically against a protrusion buried deep within the pupil. It's too small for the lid to slide beneath the pummel to uproot the weapon.

A voice explodes directly across from her.

"I told you to run!"

Identifying the new sound wave, the creature lunges.

Loki reappears before Jane, snatches the branch from her and says, "You won't be needing this."

Leaping onto the creatures back, Loki charges up the scales and over the head. Anchoring his feet into the ridges between the serpent's eyes and nostrils, the trickster rears the branch high over his head, and slams the limb into the monsters injured eye, rupturing it completely. The force of the swing sent the lodged dagger flying out the left side of its skull. And as the dagger tings away, caked with chunks of raw tissue and bits of bone, the beast tethers for a moment while Loki casually leaps off the head. The momentum of his jump tips the monster backwards and it collapses with a loud crash.

Examining the large beast, not winded in the slightest, Loki kicks at the limp apelike arms along the underbelly of the corpse.

More sounds proliferate within the darkness.

Loki says quietly, "We must go before the scavengers arrive."

Jane cautiously approaches the weapon, but refrains from touching it, unsure whether the slime coating the metal was corrosive or not. Light fades as Loki ventures further into the dead woods.

Panic-stricken at the thought that he would abandon her, Jane uses her skirt to gather up the dagger. Highly aware of the odd chittering growing louder, she folds the billowing fabric of her dress around the weapon before tucking it into her jacket pocket. With her legs free from the jumbling layers of her dress, she sprints off towards the vanishing light.

Keeping pace with Loki's swift gait was more difficult than she thought it would be. His strides were long compared to hers, and though she tries to emulate the silence of his gait, she couldn't stop all the snapping and crunching sounds of foliage being compressed under her feet.

"Must you be so loud?" He grumbles darkly.

Adrenaline fading, Jane replies sharply, "I'm sorry I was born human!"

"Don't even think of flaunting your mortal debilities to curry favors from me. I lost interest in _humans_ the moment I reached Midgard," he says disdainfully.

Knowing Loki was trying to bait her, Jane bites her lower lip. Adamant on remaining silent, she concentrates on walking and where her next step would be.

His words were so insulting, and the horrible sensation of folding in on yourself for god knows how long was hard to deal with as it is. Thinking about the probabilities that whatever caused the explosion was the instigator to their relocation, and why it would do so in the first place – Jane trips. Refusing to use Loki's back as a brace, she stumbles off balance, and catches herself on hands and knees.

"Tempting...but no. Groveling won't sway me either."

Blue light vanishes completely.

"The light!" Jane cries out, frightened by how quickly her vision turned black. It was so dark that she couldn't make out her fingers wiggling inches in front of her face. A hand clamps down hard on the collar of her leather jacket and jerks her back on her feet.

Impatient with the mortal, Loki wraps his hand around the blue cloth attached to her shoulder, and like a dog on a leash, tugs her through the darkness. "Apparently, it attracts them more than sound."

This did not bode well for Jane. She struggles fruitlessly against him until fatigue of expended energy settles her into accepting this embarrassing situation. For material that appeared so fragile, Asgardian fabric was tough.

"How do you know where you're going in the dark?" She asks in a nervous whisper.

The only response was a sharp pull to quicken her step.

They were quiet for a long time as Loki weaved their way through the forest. Up a steep incline, Jane was forced into a half crawl at some areas, and it soon became a struggle not to bump her head along jutting bushes and roots. Ascending the top of the slope, the ground returns to its unevenly flat state, and onward they went.

* * *

It felt as if they traveled for hours.

Loki halts suddenly, turns right, stops, leads her left, stops; indecisive about something, he turns around, retraces their steps, take a new path. And Jane realizes that Loki had no clue where he was going.

On the fifth occasion of retracing their path, Jane asks peevishly, "What do you see?"

His response to her inquiry was between the borderlines of annoyance and amusement. "On our left, a dead tree. On our right, another dead tree. Above our heads, a canopy of webbing we really shouldn't touch. Behind us, two arachnids about the size of a cow, slowly creeping towards us in hopes of an easy meal."

"Are we in middle earth?" Jane asks hysterically.

He's no longer toeing the line of amusement. "This is definitely not Midgard."

"That wasn't what I meant…"

Their conversation ended abruptly as Loki yanks her sash leftward; she's being guided up and over a fallen log. An ice cold hand presses her head down. On the verge of protesting his mistreatment, another hand, just as cold as the first, covers her mouth.

Frosty breath tickles her ear. "Not another word."

Confused by the temperature drop, Jane claws the back of his hand and gives up when he doesn't yield. Remaining stationary, she listens intently to the noises around her. A shuffling sound is heard, almost like a whisper, so miniscule that it could have been mistaken as the figment of an overactive imagination.

Trees begin to eerily creak by the force of resistance. A moment of dead silence; then a vicious snarl is heard as limbs snap off branches and brambles fell like rain to pelt the both of them. Jane ducks against her knees, and covers her head with her arms as a bloodcurdling wail erupts not ten feet away from their hiding place.

Loki says in a commanding whisper, "Now's our chance. Make haste!"

An arm loops around her waist as she's hefted up against him and flung back on her feet. Sash tugging, Jane's driven headlong into an endless void of black. All she knew was that they're running off again, but they both don't know _where_ they're running to. And she's tripping, and falling, and springing back up, just to keep up with Loki's leisurely jog.

Gasping in pain, lungs on fire from effort, she finds herself begging Loki to stop. The Prince is relentless; though, he's considerate enough to slow down every time she loses footing.

And they continue running in darkness for what felt like forever.


	3. Chapter 3

15 reviews and the next chapter goes up cuz I said so XD

* * *

Dark World

02: Blind Side

Coming to a halt, Loki glances around his shoulder to examine the frail mortal. Desperate for oxygen, she plants damp palms against her thighs and leans over, trembling with fatigue. Her sweat slick face was a rosy hue of exertion, hair a tangled mess, lips slightly chapped from lack of hydration, brown eyes pleading blindly off his left shoulder for leniency...

Pressing his lips together in a firm line, Loki lifts his hand and waves it in front of her face. She doesn't even blink, and he's chuckling at the hilarity of her predicament.

Between puffs of air, the mortal asks, "What's so funny?"

"When were you going to tell me that you're _completely_ blind?"

The mortal fumes silently and glares somewhere over his head. If looks could kill, he'd be a smear on the floor. Knowing she couldn't see him, Loki smiles cruelly, flicks lightly at her forehead with his pointer finger; expression unmasked fully with macabre delight at her outraged shout to stop being rude.

Rubbing her forehead, the female snaps at him, "I thought the fact I couldn't see anything was apparent, what with all the stumbling and asking about the view!"

"Here I thought you were maladroitly gifted." His dry sarcasm was not appreciated by the mortal as her glare turns wrathful.

Licking her dry lips, she ignores his intentional baiting and focuses on the main issue. "Do you know where we are? What happened? Where's Thor?" Taking a clumsy step away from where she assumed Loki was; a shove sent her reeling backwards.

"Sit down before you hurt yourself," Loki says disgustedly.

Arms flailing about like pin wheels - the god of mischief finds this very hilarious – the mortal lands flat on her back, air whooshing out of her lungs as her dress flips high against her thighs; a hint of purple was visible to him. Pressing her legs together, blocking the view, the thing props herself up with her hands and tugs her damp hair away from her face.

She mumbles hatefully, "You prick!"

Grinning down at her, adding false concern into his voice, "I thought to oblige your supplicant appeal for rest, however, if you wish to continue, then lets-"

"Rest! Rest is good! It's fine! Thank you!"

The way she stares at a tree as if it were him made Loki laugh, she's so clueless of her surroundings...

The Jotun slyly made his way to the opposite side of where she was facing and leans against a large white boulder. At this vantage point, he could clearly see in the far distance as the tree tops shook near the spiders hunting grounds. Most likely an indication that the predators were still caught in heated battle. Hopefully the warring beasts were loud enough to arouse attention away from them.

"How far can you see?" She asked wearily.

Doing what came naturally to him, Loki twisted the truth and turned it into a lie. "A few feet, nothing more."

Startled that his voice was coming from behind her, the woman repositioned herself to face him, not knowing he was further to the left. She stares at empty space and asks politely, "Do you have a hypothesis as to where we were sent?"

Unable to take her seriously by her bedraggled appearance and lack of eye contact, Loki replies mockingly, "Someplace dark and spooky."

She can't believe how flippant he was being, it felt as if he didn't care.

Jane lifts her knees, draping her arms over them and says strictly, "Loki, enough with the games, I'm being serious. If you don't want to figure out how to get out of this place then I'll do it myself."

Narrowing his eyes at her, Loki sneers out acidly, "All this time wandering in the woods… you think I haven't thought of the enigmas for which you speak of? How insulting can mortals be? Apparently very. You insignificant worm! Without me you'd be dead!"

The aghast look on her face brightens Loki's mood, and then she's frowning in thought.

Deciding to compromise, she says softly, "Alright. Fine, I acknowledge the fact that you were speculating on important matters, that you saved my life on numerous occasions, but could you please turn down the insults? It's not helping anyone."

Well, she didn't have to know that it kept Loki amused. Honestly, this was too easy for him. "Why would I want the acknowledgment of a lower life form?"

Burying her face between the crook of her arms, Jane grumbles out, "Just forget it…."

"You give up so quickly." A note of disappointment laced his cocky words.

"I'm relenting," she said truthfully. "Considering verbal sparring won't do us any good at the moment, why dig a hole if it's wasted effort?"

He remained silent. Why dig a hole indeed.

When her erratic heartbeat had stabilized, and her breathing returned to a semblance of normalcy, Jane decided not to risk too long of a break since Loki could slip away at any moment, and she wouldn't even know of his departure until he was long gone. The thought of abandonment frightened her to the core. Why does she keep thinking about it?

Standing up, Jane brushes debris from her backside and the bottom of her dress. Patting down her jacket pocket, she's reassured that the lower end of her skirt still remains tucked with her weapon. The ache in her body was a continuous reminder that she couldn't go any further, but she stubbornly used the pain to fuel her onward. Taking an experimental step forward, she waits for him to make his move - nothing happens for a long while.

Perhaps he already left.

"Ready for another stroll I presume?" The mischievous prince casually asked.

Relief washes over her at the sound of his voice. Though, she needs to tread lightly around him, to choose her battles wisely, and that arguing with a megalomaniac was fruitless. The goal was to survive and find a way out of here, to give up means to die, and right now, survivability counted on her keeping up with Loki.

Jane could hear him approaching, and he's winding his hand around both of the dangling sashes of her dress. Lowering her head, considering her options, she whispers shamefully, "I'm determined to do my best… but I'll be needing water… and…" Reluctant to continue, she stops, shakes her head, not wanting him to think of her as being a burden.

"Let me guess, shelter, sustenance, sleep?" Annoyed, Loki chides, "Not even a day and you're waning away… What Thor ever sees in you, I'll never know."

"I pray you never do."

* * *

An eternity of walking and still the darkness prevailed: no predawn light reflecting over the horizon, no lessening of the blackness, just an empty void. The lack of visual solidity frightened Jane to the point that, from time to time in her exhausted state, she secretively reached out for Loki to regain a sense of equilibrium. Whenever she brushed her fingers against one of the leather coat tails of his jacket, Jane would briefly hold onto the fabric, and then quickly let go in fear of what Loki might do if he found her actions offensive.

Though he wasn't the man she wanted to be with in any situation, it was_ somebody,_ and that's all that matters right now. The acknowledgment of another kept her grounded and focused, if not for that simple comfort, she would have unraveled into hysteria.

Now that she thinks about it; reaching out to pull Loki away from that weapon was the worst decision she has ever made in her life. Jane was unable to compare this blunder with the Aether, because all she did there was examine if the red glow of light bouncing off the palm of her hand was a heated source of energy or not. Only when she moved away from the elongated pillar did the dark matter shoot out to snag her wrist and impale her flesh.

So, if she had the good sense to not touch the Aether… why did she senselessly chose to grab Loki's outstretched hand?

That moment was instantaneous, it could have easily pass her by, but that look of shocked bewilderment at the realization that he was going to die was so childlike in its helplessness that it struck a chord in her heart. Raven hair scattering about by the gravitational pull, ice green eyes wide with desperation, mouth parted slightly in a gasp of denial, long pale fingers grasping for purchase... it was the face of a lost child…

Jane really ought to learn how to reign in her emotional responses; even now she felt the need to reach out to him. In her hand, she feels the cold reassurance of leather, and she drops it like a hot potato.

As they continue ever onward, Jane could feel herself slipping in and out of consciousness. Mouth parched, tongue dry, lips splitting from dehydration; she was practically dead on her feet as Loki's pompous voice breaks the silence.

"There's a stream up ahead, I can hear the water flowing."

Pressing her lips together, she's determined to see this through.

* * *

The Jotun could clearly see the bubbling brook which led down to a wide rushing river. Scanning the terrain, the nearby trees pulsate with light and the color of the leaves were lushly vibrant with reds, greens, and gold. Around the confluence point of water, there was a large outcropping of jagged rocks. It could be considered a good thing, however, caution overruled optimism. If something appeared useful for one person, then no doubt it'll be used by others.

Leading higher up the channel in search of the spring, the prince spots another potential shelter. The small curve in the stone was appropriate for one so tiny as the mortal.

Said mortal stumbles over a jutting rock and collapses on the floor. Mouth slanting in a frown, Loki waits for her to stand. Her silence and sluggishness signified the magnitude of the situation. When she regains her footing, he begins walking further up the slope.

Listening for potential threats, Loki slowly approaches the gushing water, tucks the blue sash into the gap of his wrist guard, bends down on a knee, and methodically rinses his hands. Flicking the residue of water off his fingers, he pauses his actions and examines his nail beds, finding them to appear a bit bluish. After he rubs his thumbs over each nail, they return once again to their coral pink state.

Rising, he ventures further up and settles down in an area where the water wasn't so turbulent. Double-checking that his fingers and palms were free of grime, he cups the crystalline water and critically examines it for traces of parasites. Finding none, he takes an experimental sip. The water is cold, crisp, and refreshingly mineralized. Gulping down the rest of it, Loki wipes the trail of water off his chin and reaches for the sash. Tugging it gently, he tells the mortal to proceed.

The female plopped down beside him, not realizing that the edges of her skirt was trailing away in the water flow and getting soaked. Watching as she blindly feels her way over to the edge of the spring – a thought occurs that brought him to brood inwardly. The mortal will not survive this journey; and because of that thought, he tries not to think about anything further than the now.

Upon contacting cool water, her hands dart out to capture a handful, and just as she was about to greedily consume the liquid, thin cool fingers latches at her wrists and lowers her hands back into the water.

"There's this saying I heard while on Midgard… that cleanliness is next to godliness… might want to consider that." His oleaginous tone of voice turned her rambunctious enthusiasm into a heated glower.

"You are the most considerate Machiavellian I've ever met…" she said tiredly while scrubbing at her hands.

He studies the way she wearily stares at the vicinity of her fingers, trying to gauge just how filthy they actually were. The mortal experimentally scrapes the underside of her nails to dislodge accumulation of dirt wedged between there and then spreads the grime across the pads of her fingers. Frowning at the discovery, she's dunking her hands back into the water to impatiently scrape the offensive thing out from every crack and crevice of her hands.

Loki actually sounds distracted when he asks, "I beg your pardon?"

Whipping her hands out of the water – he ducks his head a second before she could slap him – he might have liked it the first time around, but it didn't mean he'd like another.

"Please tell me they're clean?"

The way her voice lilted with hopeful approval only made him want to be mean to her.

Examining her pristine fingers, he says offhandedly, "A filthy mess."

Reaching out for the water again, Jane whines, "They can't be that dirty?"

He snickers, clamping a hand over his mouth.

"You're not laughing at me… are you?"

"I'm not laughing at you," he reassures with false sentiment.

There was blood seeping into her mouth as her lip split further from talking, choosing to be the better person in this situation, Jane remains silent and focuses on quenching her thirst. Cupping her hand into the water, she drinks so fast she hardly tastes it. Gathering more into her hands, she gulps it down just as greedily as the first. When she scoops up a sixth handful, Jane finally took the time to slosh the water through her teeth, in the pockets of her cheeks, gurgles it in her mouth, and gulps it down.

It felt wonderful!

Dabbing cool liquid against the cuts on her lips, Jane stoops over the water and splashes a handful on her face. The empty silence brought a slow dawning of realization that Loki had wandered off without her. Nervously fishing through her large jacket pocket in search of her only weapon, she accidentally sent the blade tumbling into the spring. Her heart dropped at the ka-dunk sound the dagger made.

_Note to self: do not bind dagger in dress._

Taking a long suffering breath, Jane slips her hand into the pool to recover her dagger, not realizing the water was so deep; she's leaning flat on her belly, and her arm is submerged up to her shoulder. Long brown hair flutters forward and dips into the water, it's tugged gently by the current. Fingers skim along gravel and chunks of rock until her pinky grazes against metal and - A whooshing noise from above and to the left made Jane sit up straight with the small dagger clutched tightly in her lap.

Eyes wide in fright, they dart uselessly about in search of the culprit of the sound. Unable to rely on vision, she closes her eyes, and concentrates on scent and sound. Inhaling deeply for a long moment, she holds that breath and lets it out through her mouth. Breathing in a second time; there's something very rank near her vicinity, yet no indication is given that it's moving. Teetering between whether or not she should stab at the thing or make a run for it, the sound of rushing water worsens her anxieties, and she freezes up - not knowing what to do.

"_You're a fish in a barrel._"

Jane should have felt relief at recognizing the owner of that voice, but Loki's glacial tone was mixed with so much malicious loathing that her heart started beating erratically and she's trembling uncontrollably. This man could kill her at his convenience.

Something jerks her at the shoulder. The unexpected force jolted her into a blind sense of panic as she cries out and slices the sash from her dress. No sooner had she split the cloth when a firm hand halts her movement and Jane's being dragged like a sack of potatoes across the uneven terrain. Refusing to let go of the weapon, the brunette kicks, yells, wiggles in her attempt to get free. The last of her strength gives way and she feels so insignificantly _worthless_.

Strong hands press her down, rolled her onto her belly, and shoves her against a wall. Raising up with her arms, the back of her head bumps a stone ceiling. Wherever Loki put her, it was cramped and stifling.

"Rest in there little mortal."

A cool wind brushes against her heated skin, when the sound of clinking shards was heard, Jane hesitantly reaches out and trails the tips of fingers along the slick icy wall of her new prison.

* * *

**A.N:** Thank you for all the reviews so far! They are the only things that keeps this story going. If you have questions you could leave it as a review and I'll more than likely give you a reply back with a shady shady shady answer. Oh, I'm also looking for a beta to help me spot typos and totally off grammar mistakes. If someone is interested please PM me.

Yup, Jane seems weak right now, but come on guys, it's BLACK out there as in no lights at all no stars no moon zip nadda. Loki can see in the darkness because of his superior eyesight and some magic. Human biology vs Aseir/Jotun is vastly different in some aspects. She needs to get used to the blackness and etc...


	4. 03: A Secret Revealed

03: A Secret Revealed

Free of the enervated mortal, Loki retreated from the frozen entryway of the small cave, where the woman's muffled cry of protest soon gave way to quiet sobs. He should not have abandoned the mortal, even if it was only a bit of mischief to further humiliate Thor's woman, his actions only proved the severity of her plight.

Returning to the spring, the prince stares at the hairless nocturnal beast, pinned to the ground in the bowels by an iron dagger. Another oddity he has never seen before. It was an off-white digitigrade mammal, walked on two legs, with long spindly arms, a hands width shorter than the mortal, and evidently male. The God of Mischief does not wish to be reminded of how he figured that out. Though he looked forward to forgetting it ever happened, disturbing memories clung to him more easily now than those which once warmed his heart.

Loosening his weapon from sticky entrails, Loki kicked the carcass hard as he could, watching as it sailed far into the distance, tangling high in a tree; a grotesque beacon in the gloomy darkness. Swishing the blade in a runoff, Loki noticed a glow emanating from the yellow blood. Blade dropped negligently beside him, he sat on the red grass, covering his face. There was too much to deal with, everything was falling apart, _he_ was falling apart.

_Why did mother sacrifice herself for a mortal? _

Their lifespan was an insignificant speck compared to Aesir. The queen had over a thousand years of life ahead of her and now… Considering the Midgardian's current predicament, the sacrifice would be wasted. The last jarring conversation he had with his mother, threatened to flood him in sorrow like a tidal wave, at the remembrance of rejecting her: _completely_. Ashamed of himself for contributing to her death by pointing the way to the force field generator, Loki curls his knees to his chest and wraps his arms around them, holding himself steady, afraid he might crumble – _hoping to crumble_. But he keeps it bottled up, forever stewing, never healing, a monster of the worse sort.

_If only I hadn't…_

How could he ever forgive himself for what he said? For what he did? Does it matter anymore? Is it that important?

Frigga had died a true warrior's death, an idealism worth pursuing for all Aesir. It would have been far more demeaning if she were to die old and broken in her sleep. His heart ached at the loss of her, each pulsing beat of stabbing pain turns him bitter and empty. Oh how he wanted to rip it out, just to stop feeling any of it anymore. There had once been some joy left in this ugly universe that mattered to him, bits of memories, the comfort of seidr, most profound of all, was always Frigga. What is relevant now save revenge?

His thoughtless actions would forever haunt him, and he will take the small solace of pursuing this vendetta against the Dark Elves, and only then will he_- not now! __There's no time for fanciful thoughts or intricate plans. Not yet anyway._

Distracting himself from his morbid fantasies, Loki plucked the dagger off the ground, sheathed it, and stood. In silence he paced, over and over, each step guides Loki closer to the cave. Massaging a thumb against an open palm; pressing hard against the pressure-point between thumb and forefinger, his mind scatters in all directions at once.

A decision was made even before they arrived here.

Keep the mortal safe in honor of...no, just keep her safe.

Find the secret pathway of this world and return to a planet he's familiar with.

He scoffs at the last one, it was easier said than done.

It was a lark when he discovered Asgards passageway; young, reckless, and jealous that Thor scaled the mountainous ranges of their home planet all alone without aid, Loki had been determined to prove his worth, how he was as mighty as his elder brother. Loki had eagerly tackled the feat with an air of pompous pride. In the end, it brought him nothing but disgrace and ridicule from his peers. What took Thor a little over a fortnight to accomplish, lasted over a month for him. Nevertheless, what he found there made up for his shame, and it had been kept a guarded secret ever since…

_'…well… until now that is,' _he thought petulantly_._

That was a sour thought indeed.

It was _his_ secret pathway to other worlds, and it took him centuries to map out the first three byways out of Asgard, then nearly a millennium more, to hunt down and master the other eight planetary paths, along both branch-ways and root-systems of the tree. The thought of hunting for a portal without the proper tools was daunting. Discovering one of the paths between the cosmic tree would be no simple feat. To properly correlate the location of a secret passage, one must first know the basis of the geographical requirements of both the planet and its location along Yggrasil. Though this simple knowledge was valuable to him, this endeavor would hasten greatly with an aid of a map.

What really bothered him about this world was the blatant lack of seidr fields, and the nonexistent vibration of the primordial well - it was truly bizarre not to experience the constant rippling effect of power. Even as a child, before discovering spell craft, the ebb and flow of energy was blatantly apparent to him. This cease of vibration caused him to feel even more a hollow shell of who he was, and the insecurity worsens as his bodies naturally produced seidr slowly depleted itself.

This could end very badly for the both of them.

Busy mind bouncing from one idea to the next, a perturbed thought about oxygen intake of mortals caused the prince to squat down beside the ice wall and poke an air hole on the top with his dagger.

All was quiet.

_Most likely the woman slumbers._

It bothers him still.

He must verify her safety.

Scanning the terrain, Loki hooked his pointer finger into the hole, and accidentally snaps the barrier in half. Tsking at himself for his error, he leaned the broken sheet of ice against the side of the cave and peered inside.

Thor's little love was deeply asleep and was currently using her jacket as a pillow. Brown hair tussled in a tangled mess, a dainty fist tucked beneath a curved chin, bottom lip swollen red from cuts caused by lack of hydration, face and clothes dirty from dragging her to the cave. Frustrated at the sight of her, Loki created another ice sheet, and was mindful enough to craft ventilation holes. Upon completion, the weary prince leans up against the barrier and waits for her to awaken.

Slowly dropping his core temperature, Loki stared off in the distance; repetitively rubbing his thumb against the palm of his hand, pressing hard against the pressure-point to prevent the headache he feels from worsening.

Near the path they took up the incline towards the spring, there stood a stumpy wide-eyed _thing _with no ears and no nose. Slit pupils dilated into two black discuses. Crouching low, it studied the path and hobbled up the brook. The creatures head tilted mere inches off the ground, examining the imprint of feet in the soil. Silent as the dead, it whips its head towards the congealing puddle of luminescent blood. Flicking its head up and down, a long wet tongue glides from its mouth to lick the dried blood off the dirt. Loosing interest in its former pursuit, it begins tracking the yellow glow. Waddling in the water, bobbing its way towards the opposite side of the spring, crawling on all fours into the thick bushes, vanishing just as silent as it came.

Loki lowers his dagger and remains stationary for hours. Watching jadedly as the creature reappeared high in a tree, making its progression up the spindly branches, where the corpse dangled, yanking at a stiff limb, the thing toppled down to the ground with its prize.

Most of the odd creatures passing by failed to notice the silent prince, while others followed the woman's scent directly to the cave, however, they were dissuaded from further pursuit by the aggravated Jotun blocking their path.

Finally, coming to a decision about the minimization of sedir, Loki flicked his wrist, and a strap appeared out of thin air to dangle in his open palm. Pulling at the leather, an empty pack tumbled out of nothing and lands between his outstretched legs. Loki mentally curses the All-Father for confiscating all of his belongings in his personal void-space, before sending him off to prison. The doddering old fool went so far as to remove his armor and _his_ Casket of Ancient Winters. If he had a birthright, that weapon would be one of them, and it was cruelly withheld from him - _Just like everything else._

Culling through what few items he managed to smuggle into his dimensional-pocket, he frowned at how little remained: eight daggers, a cape, empty canisters, perishables, a bottle of wine, cutlery, books, random knick knacks that should probably be thrown out, a whip- Loki grins at how he acquired that particular weapon. Removing everything except the perishables, Loki loaded the pack and attached the daggers into weapon compartments crafted into his garb. Latching the whip to a buckle on his thigh, the trickster stood up, and made his way to the spring to fill the canisters with fresh water.

Returning to the cave, he leapt on top the boulder and scanned the horizon. Rivers, trees, mountains, plains… a picturesque landscape surrounded them on all sides, and the problem with this was the lack of civilization.

The sound of shattering ice caught Loki's attention. Glancing down, he spots a small figure dart out of the cave and trip her way down the hill. Rolling his eyes at the maiden's stupidity, Loki decided to humor the simpleton and allow her to run about like a blind bat. Poor misguided mortal would most likely consider his presence far more favorable after her daunting experience of being alone in the dark.

Pleased at the thought of her dependence, Loki watched the female slip a hand inside her jacket, pull out a rectangular object - Loki's wide sardonic grin vanishes completely into open mouth astonishment - press a button on the side of the device that turned on her blasted cell phone. And the little blighter brightens the area around her, revealing clearly the path before her.

For a stunned second, he studied the way long brown hair swirled around narrow shoulders. As _Jane_ turns to glance behind her, he swears to the Norns that the minx has got the widest, most devious, shit-eating grin plastered on her face. And off she goes again, blue dress raised high against tan thighs. Instead of a blind bat, the mortal was now a bat out of hel with the sole intention of getting as far away from him as possible.

Her cell switched off and she makes a beeline into the forest.

The loss of light finally triggered a reaction out of the stupefied prince.

"Damn!"

At that moment, Loki wasn't sure precisely who he cursed; him or the maiden, it matters not. She's foiling his plans _again_. Jumping off the boulder, Loki swung the pack over his shoulder and sprints down the sloping hill. Instinct yelled at him to track her, and he's determined to do just that.

Entering the forest, light flickered on and off at intervals far in the distance. Running the trail he thought she took, Loki refused the idea of using seidr to apprehend the mortal. There were more significant matters to use his powers on, and he deemed not to waste the expenditure on inconsequential issues such as fetching a misbehaving mortal. This was nothing more than an Asgardian game of hunter and prey, once played long ago with Thor and his childhood companions.

And if she should wish to be his playmate for tonight, then so be it. Let her play the silly game, let her run hither and tither, until the mortal realizes that his superiority would become the impetus to her survival.

Within the dark woods, shapes appeared at random. Some hid from the light, while others followed. When the smaller hunters recognized a predator far dangerous than themselves was hunting the source of the light, they abandoned their pursuit and scampered away.

As if crossing through the Bifrost to another planet, the climate changed from mild warmth to moist and muggy. Skeletal white trees turn thick and red, and as he continues through the woods, a strong undercurrent of decay arose from the soil. The mechanical light remained stationary for a long moment - Loki thought it a bad sign - flicking his dagger from the hidden sheath, he quickened into a mad sprint as the light vanished, and the repetitive crunching of footsteps erupted again.

_Does the mortal not realize the significance of such brooding silence?_

Glancing at the redwoods revealed jagged markings along the trunks - clearly a warning of turf.

Rocks and boulders emerge as trees lessen into a meadow. Hopping over the ground, where the light lingered, a flat slab caught his attention; it had been wiped clean of thick moss and dirt. This was the thing that caused the woman to pause her steps and it did the same for him. Written words carved in stone pulsated with crimson light; Loki failed to decipher the meaning of the text, but soon identified a striking resemblance between the strokes on the slab to ancient elven scripture.

A feminine yelp was heard nearby, and he's torn between the urge to apprehend the female and the desire to decipher the text. Animalistic snarls helped sway his option for the former, and he's tempted to murder the mortal himself for blatant disregard of his supremacy in comparison to her _lack of everything, _which, apparently, also includes basic common sense.

Taking a step in her direction, Loki paused and grumbled an angry expletive; diving to the right, the trickster barely slipped away from getting mauled by a large feline. When claws met empty space, the beast hissed in outrage. Loki created a duplicate of himself to divert the creature's attention and dashed off, too distracted with his own hunt to bother with kittens. He didn't get far when he lost connection with his illusion, but it didn't matter, so long as he got away.

Crossing her path was simple, as a pair of paw prints joined hers and then another. All three of the muddy tracks led straight towards jutting boulders a dozen feet high. Each monolithic column leaned precariously against the other for support. Slowly, Loki approached the rock formation, when a sparkle of gold leather caught his eye, distracting him. Bending down, Loki hooked a finger under a jutting strap, and lifted it out of the mud to examine his find.

A shoe.

"...Brilliant..."

Tucking the dirty footwear in a separate compartment of the pack, Loki silently hid behind an outcrop of bushes and examined the obstacles ahead. Two grey panthera-like beasts prowled about the stone structure, growling and hissing savagely, slotting their paws betwixt the gaps of boulders. The smaller of the two, about the size of a horse, attempted to shove the stones aside by propelling itself into a crevice. From Loki's perspective, it was actually working.

Considering the woman's situation, the threat level was minimal at best -alright, it was rather high- but that saucy smile of hers before fleeing was so terribly vexing, to the point that it dissuaded his regard for the mortal's welfare. Wanting nothing more than for her to stew in terror a while longer, Loki retraced his footsteps through the tall grass, stealthily returning to the glowing tablet.

Trying hard not to grind his teeth, Loki watched as the hairy feline from earlier, dug razor claws into the lettering in the slab. Completely enthralled by the red light, ripping out chunks of glow off the stone: biting, and nipping, and shredding it to ruin - all the while its fluffy tail waved merrily in the air.

'_Well, at least somebody's found pleasure in the situation.'_ The trickster thinks wearily.

Deciding to leave the happily distracted creature, Loki reluctantly returned to his main goal of recapturing the little damsel in distress. Crouching low, he made a wide berth around the two hungry felines, to scout the parameters surrounding the boulders. The cone shaped structure in the middle of the meadow was no random coincidence. It was created by a higher form of intelligence and Loki was ever curious of the secrets it held.

Little fingers peek out from soil, underneath the cracks of abraded stones; those fingers, reminiscent of worms wiggling about, were unforgettable. He could still feel the lingering ghost of a sting, by an Aether aided punch to the face. Smug by the thought, Loki reached down to pinch the pad of her thumb.

She pulled away, screaming in terror, and he's all in a tizzy with twisted glee.

It pleased him to know the woman was literally stuck between a rock and a hard place. At the terrified cry, the beasts resume their efforts at ramming into the opposite side of the structure.

Leaning down towards the gap, Loki whispered loud enough for her to hear, "Make your choice little girl."

An angry shout of frustration that sounded like his name made him smile cheekily. The smile is wiped off his face as he jerked backwards, right before a dirt covered dagger could pierce his shin. Maintaining his distance, Loki passively observed the maidens efforts to survive.

The poor valiant thing tries so hard.

It's a shame she never got very far.

* * *

**A.N:** Thanks again for the reviews. I'm shocked that no one questioned about Jane's cell phone…probably no one was interested in pointing that out… Your support and helpful critiques mean much to me. If you're interested to know what story I'm currently working on, just check out my profile page. Still looking for a beta for this story. Any one's interested, please contact me.


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